Jafabrit – Biography Guest Piece

I have been wanting to post some of Jafabrit’s work on my blog for quite some time now. Her work is so amazing and vibrant, she just has to be included. I recently got in touch with her and got her to write a short biography about herself and what she has been up to. She was also recently featured in the media due to her tree sweater. The pic is below and you can check out the article here

So courtesy of Jafabrit here is her biography, thanks Corrine

Corrine Bayraktaroglu aka jafabrit

I’m a middle aged multi-media artist living in the middle of Ohio and I like to wear black. I was born in the Northeast of England and had a mother who earned her living as a graphic artist and is a brilliant draughtswoman/portrait artist. I was exposed to a lot of art at home, and museums etc, in the Northeast and in London. Unfortunately I was under the mistaken notion that one is only capable of being an artist if they can conjure up a portrait or an image within minutes, so I dismissed any idea that I could do art at all. Before I got married and came to America in 1978 I had a variety of jobs, barmaid, kennel maid ( racing greyhounds), usherette, pool hall attendant, data entry operator, auxiliary nurse, croupier. After moving to the USA I did volunteer work and worked seven years in Texas as a suicide crisis counselor. I thought would go and get my social work degree in 1995, but after my first drawing class and then an oil painting class that was it. At 40 years old I found a new love in my life and I was smitten.

Naughty Boy, Oil on Wood

It has been said that professionally it is a bad thing to do work in so many styles (they are probably right), and it is claimed suggests a lack of focus. I would say bollocks to that. The range of my work is a reflection of my tastes in life, very very eclectic. As a fellow artist noted, “I move between flippancy or gay abandonment to more serious stuff”. I don’t really concern myself with adhering to a specific style or school of art or art rules. Content dictates the form so I will use any method/means I feel best fits with what I am trying to say with a piece.

Promise Not To Tell, Oil on Wood, Hammered Tin, Antique Box

I call myself jafabrit because I am the founder of a group called the jafagirls, which is an acronym for “Just Another F%$#*& Artist”. We create what we when we want, how we want and WHENEVER WE ARE IN THE MOOD. We do public art, found art, run a gallery in a local loo, own the art ball machine, sell art, teach art, own an art gallery, and have fun with art. I am also the co-founder and co-curator of the gallery in a local public restroom in the Chamber of Commerce building, called The Chamberpot Gallery. In addition I run a blog for the Yellow Springs Arts Council, as well as mine, and the jafagirlart blog.